AN: F*k me, the chapters are slowly getting longer. Damn I just can't help myself _.
It's just a couple of thousand words short of a standard BiG Konoha chapter now.
Let's address the issues in the reviews.
1. I'd prefer not to say much about characters that haven't been officially introduced.
2. Whether Naruto is evil or not is for you to judge.
3. I really didn't explain anything in the end, did I?.
Track(s) for this chapter: Scherzo In F Minor Piano and Bass by Nicholas Britell
Chapter 5 Assassin (Bang! Bang! Bang!)
Naruto returned to the UA dorms late in the night. When he snuck out he only planned on getting some ramen before hightailing back. He had not expected to walk into a bloody scene instead.
Mr Yamada, his aids and a few other innocent shoppers were slaughter in broad daylight. Naruto didn't spend much time in the store after. He cleared out the untouched ramen cups and left a substantial amount of his savings in the cash register before leaving.
Coming there, he planned on ordering something through Mr Yamada, thus he had a lot of money on him. Naruto left the cash behind for the man's family. As for the families of the other victims, he would let the police and JHA handle it. On his way back, he sighted the boy who had called him Ultima in school from afar.
He was wandering about aimlessly, seemingly lost in thought. Naruto was going to avoid the boy, but then an idea popped up in his mind.
He was sure the kid was the third person he saw in the virtual world. Whoever he was, he was probably very important to the JHA. He was too old to be a nominated candidate of the board, and as well quite young for a potential voted in candidate. The kid was still going to the UA, he was not a pro hero from the looks of things and still he got the attention of the JHA. He was an oddity.
To the JHA oddities took priority. With that in mind, Naruto approached the boy with the intention of using him. He noticed that he was still on his guard against him, but that was easily worked around. After that the rest was easy.
Naruto's plan was a simple one. He knew the boy was important to the JHA, and as such they would spare no effort in protecting him. He was also very inexperienced by the looks of it, making it a lot easier for Naruto to make use of him. Naruto highlighted the convenience store to him, with the aim of making a big spectacle out of things. He envisioned the boy panicking, getting the attention of passerbys. When the police arrived, he would then spill everything he knew and put him up as a prime suspect of the convenience store incident.
The plan was filled with risks but Naruto didn't mind. The board had their roots running deep throughout every corner of Japan. It would require a single phone call to cool down everything. After the boy exposed the information he had on [Notes] they wouldn't have a choice but to intervene.
That was his main goal. Drawing the attention of the board to himself and the boy. That way, they wouldn't go after the true culprit.
There was power in the name 'Ultima'. Those who used it carelessly automatically became the mortal enemies of the JHA.
After a while and not seeing anything relating to the incident on the news, Naruto knew that things had gone wrong. The boy's reaction was contrary to Naruto's expectations in the end. Not only did he not make a scene or draw the attention of passerbys, he didn't give any sensitive information to the police either.
He managed to succeed in doing the complete opposite of what Naruto wanted. The blonde began to suspect Izuku was a loyal nominated candidate that he didn't know about. He then decided to pay the blonde a visit to clear his doubts. After a few minutes Naruto was certain in his mind that the wimpy kid was as ignorant as he initially thought. He was definitely not a nominated candidate.
While he answered the boy's question he carried out his own investigations. From what he had gathered, Izuku was a formerly quirkless person whose quirk had manifested just recently. As such, the kid had no experience in using it and was clueless on how to utilize it in a combat situation as well.
His quirk was clearly an enhancer type, however there was a key difference that Naruto had spotted. Something that normal enhancer type quirks should not possess. His quirk was very similar to that of the number one hero, whom the boy had a deep obsession with.
Midoriya Izuku was obsessed with heroes in general, but Allmight more so. He had firm principles, and despite his wimpy nature was a very brave individual. Naruto concluded that though Izuku Midoriya was raw and unrefined for now, he had the makings of a future top pro heroes. Which made Naruto confused as to why the boy was involved with the JHA board.
It was uncharacteristic of the JHA to go after candidates with hero mentalities. That wasn't to say they didn't go after heroes, on the contrary they mostly set their efforts on cultivating heroes. What the JHA were opposed to involving themselves with were individuals with the impenetrable hearts and steel like convictions. Natural born heroes and saviours who would not compromise. People in the likes of Allmight and the USA's prime hero for example. Men who came into this world with an obsessive desire to save it. Who couldn't turn a blind eye to a person in trouble. Who could not compromise or take orders. Those were the kinds of people who would never fit into the JHA. One of the kinds.
It wasn't clear to see in young Izuku's case, but the board weren't a careless bunch. They must have done an in depth analysis of Izuku's personality and investigation on his personal life. They would see it from the reports of him running head first into danger to save a kid who was known to constantly bully and oppress him, from his lack of hesitation to sacrifice his chances of getting into the UA to save a fellow candidate and from his almost disturbing obsession with Allmight. No matter how you looked at it, all this boy could ever be was a hero. A true selfless suicidal hero. Another Allmight.
JHA wouldn't want that. Shouldn't want anything to do with that. To Naruto it would make more sense if they tried to eliminate him before he grew. Perhaps they considered it, but with Allmight as his homeroom teacher they had a better chance of killing a shark with a safety pin.
There had to be a reason why they were so interested in Izuku Midoriya. For now, all Naruto could do was assume it had something to do with that strange quirk of him. There must be a secret behind how a fourteen year old could go from quirkless to a quirk user, and a powerful quirk at that.
"Even I'm curious to know how it's possible." Naruto mumbled. The blonde was lying on his couch with a laptop on his stomach. He was in his room in the dorm.
To the public UA high was a regular day school for heroes, but in truth it did have a boarding facility. The dorms had been existence as long as the school itself, and was created with the single purpose of housing the children of importance and influential members of the JHA and the board.
The location of the dorms was a secret to most of the teachers, while some didn't know about it's existence. There were two dorms, one for males and the other for females. Both were hidden within a virtual world that could only be accessed by authorised UA staff. The dorms were four story buildings with all the amenities and even luxuries like a hot spring, gym and training room.
The two buildings were connected by a common place (including the gym and training room) for both the boys and girls. Naturally there was a curfew placed for the common place. Naruto was given a room at the top floor. He shared this floor with four others.
Being on the top floor made it quite easy for Naruto to sneak out from school. All he had to do was say he was calling it a day early and hop out his window. He did have to return in time for roll call and dinner, though. Today was one of the rare days Naruto was caught out of school grounds. The dorm master sent him to his room and promised that they would have a longer discussing about sneaking out after school tomorrow. Naruto wondered what his punishment would be.
"You're very interested in him." a feminine voice emerged from Naruto's laptop.
He was having a video chat with one of his most favorite people in the world and classmate. The girl on the laptop screen looked to be the same age as Naruto, or possibly a year older. She had light blonde unkempt hair. She wore a bonnet over her hair, strands of it stuck out messily from the bonnet. She was a beautiful girl with honey brown eyes.
Naruto raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Izuku?." The blonde then made a dry expression. "Please word your sentences better next time."
The girl smiled lightly at the blonde and shrugged. When she did, for a moment she was sure she had seen a shift of emotion in Naruto's eyes. Now looking at the blonde she wasn't so sure anymore. "You offered to teach him how to fight, boss. Face it. You like him." The girl teased.
Naruto rolled his eyes at her. "I offered to teach him something cool if he can guess my quirk. Chances of that happening are pretty low I'd say."
"Uh-huh. The same guy you said has an incredible deductive prowess for his age?."
Naruto blushed lightly in embarrassment. "Uh okay maybe he has a chance at figuring it out." Naruto admitted. He shrugged casually after that. "In any case I've decided to consider him as a candidate, so training him is no biggie. That quirk of his... " Naruto trailed off. He stroked his chin in thought, still wondering why a mere enhancer quirk would have that thing in it.
"Aside from Midoriya-san, what's your opinion on the first years?. Any other person caught your interest?." she asked.
Naruto drummed his fingers on his chest in thought. "Nah, not really. I mean there's Momo-chan obviously, but apart from her and Izuku the rest are meh."
The girl narrowed her eyes at Naruto with a frown. "Aren't you being a little too biased?."
"How?."
It was the girl's turn to roll her eyes. "You have history with Yaoyorozu-san and her father, as well as the fact that the girl is smitten by you. Don't smile like that you rogue." She rebuked the grinning degenerated blonde. "As for Midoriya-san, it's obvious you want to reel him in because you believe he's very important to the JHA." she accused.
"You can't deny it. There are others in their class with far more potential and would be better fits. For example, Bakugo Katsuki. He was the top of the entrance exam. He has a flawed personality and is a bit unruly, but he's nothing you can't tame. His battle talent is through the roof and his quirk while one-dimensional is already fearsome at a young age. With proper guidance then he could possibly be on the level of Japan's most notorious terrorist." The young lady said, revealing a surprising understanding of Bakugo.
She had been investigating him and his classmates under the orders of the very person she was now trying to convince. Naruto remained silent, his expression unchanged. He made no attempt to interrupt the girl's words though.
"Todoroki Shoto. The son of Endeavour and the perfect balance of two contrasting quirks; fire and ice. Much like Bakugo-san, Todoroki-san possesses a personality flaw. He has a deep-seated hatred for his own father. This is due to his lofty expectations for his son and overly strictness. Though his trauma is a deep one, I believe with your history you would be able to connect with Todoroki-san better than anyone. His combat prowess pales in comparison to Bakugo-san, however he is more level headed and in terms of quirks, Todoroki-san has a greater potential.
Finally, Fumikage Tokoyami. His quirk is called Dark Shadow. A powerful shadow creature emerges from his midsection. It is perfect for maneuverability, and could be used very fluidly. Going by mere explanation, it doesn't sound impressive but in my opinion his potential isn't far off from Bakugo-san and Todoroki-san."
She had taken a whole week to investigate the quirks and history of all of class 1A. After concluding her investigation, she picked out these three as well as Izuku the standouts. Though Izuku was just an extra in case Naruto wanted more options. Compared to their classmates these three stood out. In terms of quirk, combat prowess, efficiency and maturity they were a cut above the rest. For some reason though, Naruto insisted on Momo and after he returned today, Izuku.
"You know of these three and their potential yet you're fixated on those two amateurs. You are letting your bias for them cloud your judgement."
As Naruto listened to the girl speak he tapped his fingers on his laptop. When she stopped speaking so did his fingers. "Are you jealous of Momo?." Naruto asked, catching the girl off-guard.
She frowned at the blonde. "Of course not."
"You sure?." The blonde asked with a smirk. "Cuz she's everything you ain't. Born rich, popular, cool, busty as a motherfucker and has a quirk that while not too brutish is actually worth something in a combat situation." Naruto said. He saw the anger in the girls eyes rise with every word that escaped his mouth. The blonde couldn't stop himself from grinning in relish. "Iz you mad madame?. Hehehehe... It's funny really. Never knew you could get so jelly you'd try to sabotage Momo and even be willing to kick poor Izuku under the bus in the process." Naruto said with a shake of his head. "Tsk tsk tsk Pathetic."
The girl grounded her teeth in rage. Her brown eyes were filled with disdained as she glared at Naruto. "...Shut up." She growled out.
"Or what?." Naruto's smile dropped and he asked with a serious expression. "What can you do to me?." The girl didn't reply but continued to glare at Naruto. "I can stand for a lot of things. And believe me, I find your jealousy cute. But don't use that as an excuse to fuck things up." Naruto said in a stern voice. The girl's eyes lost a fair amount of its anger. She looked away from the blonde in shame. "You're not in a contest with Momo. So stop trying to demean her." Naruto said and snorted.
"As for those three. There's a possibility, but that's all it is for now. They got potential, I'll give 'em that but their potential ain't worth shit compared to Momo. And you know it, so don't you try to make it look as though I'm the one whose being biased. We both know who has that problem between us." Naruto said.
The girl had gone completely mellow from his words, and when he saw this Naruto's smile turned gentle. "Honestly, I don't know why you're in competition with Momo. No matter how close we get, there will nobody in this world closer to me than you." Naruto said.
The girl turned red when she heard Naruto's words. She covered her Face with her palms and turned her head about frantically, unsure whether she should run away or not. "T-that's not it!. Baka!." Though her mouth produced curses, her heart was pounding. He always got her so easily. No matter how many times she told herself to be ready for it, or thought she prepared herself, he always got her in the end. She was never ready for it. It was always the same strategy too. Carrot and stick.
Carrot and stick. If she was asked to summarize Naruto's personality in three words that was what she would say. Due to his childhood and the nature of his quirk he developed a short fuse. Naruto was very quick to anger, depending on what was said or done to him. However, though the bar for his temper was high it was hard to tell what would make him fly off the handle.
The things that annoyed Naruto would often not come off as offensive to others and vice versa. Naruto could get mad over petty things, but then would laugh over direct insults and offenses. At the same time, Naruto was a joker and showed a high degree of tolerance for expensive jokes. The blonde was charismatic, and could talk his way into and out of anything. This meant that many at times those who were close to Naruto would have to endure the unpredictability of his temper and on the cases where their annoyance at him was justified, he could easily get them to forgive him. One minute he could be the most infuriating and hateful person to them, and on the next he was like this perfect glowing figure that they couldn't stay mad at no matter what they tried.
He used this to his advantage without restrain. Naruto was in the habit of offending people just to see how far he could take it and how long it would take him to mend bridges.
He was toxic to be blunt.
The blonde girl found herself in that situation again. Where she wanted to be pissed off at her boss but couldn't no matter how hard she tried. His personality aside, that was the most infuriating thing about him. He knew how to play at people's weaknesses. He knew she was vulnerable to compliments, especially those who came from him and took full advantage of it.
That hateful and loveable smile was still on his face. She wanted so badly to scowl at him now, but couldn't bring her facial muscles to obey her. The silly smile she hid with her hands had no interest in leaving her any time soon.
Though she hid most of her face Naruto could still make out that big goofy smile on her face and the gladness in her eyes. Even with most of her face covered she still looked beautiful to the blonde. He never understood why a person such as the girl would compare herself with others. She was beautiful, smart beyond compare and making a bigger difference in Japan than a majority of the UA.
Naruto found it crazy that someone as talented and pretty as her would feel insecure when compared to Momo. Naruto naturally had a fondness for Momo, but still most of Momo's qualities were granted rather than developed. Her quirk was granted at birth, and she hadn't truly developed it. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, was given the best of the best education wise. The only thing she could claim to be all hers was her wonderful personality. Measured up against Naruto's blonde friend, Momo fell short to say the least. Though it was to be expected since the blonde girl had far more experience in the world than Momo who was just a girl that got into the UA.
When Momo got exposed to the real world and begun to tap into her true potential, at that time then perhaps Naruto would have an interest in the comparison. As for now Momo was far too tender. Naruto admire the blonde girl's beauty before turning to more important matters. Her beautiful appearance didn't draw Naruto's attention as much as the see-through nightgown she was wearing.
The blonde teen was certain she hadn't realized and had no intention of telling her either. He noticed it since the started the video call. When she begun outlining the qualities of the candidates from class 1A she leaned forward in earnest. She was dressed in a loose nightgown that became even more see-through as she leaned forward. Who was Naruto to refuse such a heaven sent opportunity?.
Naruto had maintained a normal expression like he was listening to her, meanwhile his fingers moved about taking screenshots and videos of the beautiful sight. A understood that doing something like this to an unsuspecting friend was as sleazy as it gets. He was nothing more than a scoundrel for such actions. He knew, but he didn't care. Naruto gritted his teeth and told himself not taking such an opportunity would make him even worse than a scoundrel. A scoundrel?. He was not a scoundrel. He was a scoundrel with topnotch fap material.
'It's for the culture.' Naruto said with glossy eyes sparkling in determination.
Click click click click
After a few minutes the girl regained her composure. She leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her breasts. The opportunity was a good one, but alas nothing good lasts forever. The girl stared at Naruto, who still had the same expression as before, in thought. She oddly felt like her whiskered boss had done something she wouldn't approve of. 'He doesn't look to be doing anything wrong. Why do I have this intense urge to smack him?.' She wondered.
While the girl tried to make sense of her emotions, Naruto was still at hard work. 'Create file. Name... Nighttime Tatas... Yosh, now cut... send... Encrypt aaaand... done. Thank you very much for your contribution hehehehe...'
Unable to make sense of the odd feeling, the girl turned to other matters. "I received some information from one of our scouts." The light Naruto's eyes shifted to one of seriousness when the girl spoke those words. The blonde nodded, an indication that she should continue her report. "The case in Mr Yamada's store was lead by detective Tsukauchi Naomasa so as expected it didn't reach the media. According to our guy there weren't any other witnesses aside from Midoriya-san. However, judging by the autopsies it was her."
"I already know that much." Naruto said.
He was the first to walk into that scene. He saw the bodies, the bloody graffiti and the manner in which the victims were strewn around the room. He knew it was her the second he saw it. That was the reason he didn't stay long, because he knew it was her then he would have to find her before someone else did.
"Yes, but not all of it. The police is keeping it hush, but they're planning on inviting people from the East to investigate." the girl revealed. There was a measure of worry in her voice.
Naruto expression remained stable. He didn't appear the least bit worried. "I thought as much." Naruto said. "Since it has to do with me it'll be the East reacting first. I knew something was up when I spotted one of 'em following me."
The girl's eyes widened in surprise. "You were being followed?."
Naruto nodded casually like it wasn't a big deal. "Yeah. Mans only stopped following me till I got around the area of the [Jump Gate]."
The girl put a hand on her forehead in annoyance. She could feel a migraine coming on. He was followed all the way back to the dorms entrance and he didn't think to say anything. Naruto being followed meant that the JHA were observing him once again, and observation wasn't good for him. Little did she know that the blonde planned on getting the JHA to pay attention to him from the start. If she knew this then there was no telling how mad she would be at him. "Why didn't you tell me this?."
Naruto shrugged. "It slipped my mind."
The girl almost bit her tongue from anger. She clenched and fist tightly and exhaled heavily. "It slipped your mind... It slipped your mind that a dangerous agent from the East followed you. Probably all the way from Midoriya-san's house too. You're carelessly exposing him, as well as yourself!." She yelled at him in anger.
"You look so sexy when you're mad." Naruto said with a grin.
"Be serious!." The girl demanded. Naruto pouted and looked away like an offended child. The girl groaned. He was such a pain to talk to sometimes. She placed a hand on her chest and took a breath to calm herself. When she was sure she was clam enough she questioned Naruto again. "Do you know who it was that was following you?."
Naruto smiled lightly. "Of course."
"Who?."
"Kitsuchi-ossan." Naruto replied.
"Fuck."
The blonde giggled. "It ain't that bad." The blonde said. He saw the hateful glare his friend was giving him and scratched his cheek awkwardly. He was an insensitive bastard sometimes... most of the time, but even he knew not to push it too much with this young lady. She may not have much power in a fight, but making his life a living hell was an easy task to her. "Okay, I'll stop joking." Naruto said.
"Good." She nodded in satisfaction. "Since we know it was Kitsuchi-taichō what do you want to do?."
Naruto pushed the laptop to his laps and sat up. He grabbed a bag of chips lying on his bed, opened it and munched at it. "For now, nothing." Naruto said. The girls eyebrows arched down in anger again, Naruto quickly waved his hand. "It's not a joke it's not a joke it's not joke." Naruto said. He sighed in relief when the girl settled down. He thought he was the one with the temper. "I said Kitsuchi-ossan followed me til around the area of the [Jump Gate]. If I know the guy at all, then he's a meticulous sunuvabeech. And if he knows me at all, then he'll know the sorta slippery bastard I can be. Yet, the ol fucker left me once I was near the [Jump Gate]." Naruto said. He licked the salt off his fingers before speaking again. "I'm willing to bet my bottom dollar that he was haul assing back to Izuku's place." Naruto said.
The girl's eyes twinkled in understanding. "You think Kitsuchi-taichō is under orders to protect Midoriya-san?."
Naruto nodded. "Mmhmm. And since he's doing that then that takes a load of my back, with our cute little murderer roaming the streets." Naruto said and earned a roll of the eyes from his fellow blonde. Admittedly that joke was in bad taste, considering they were both friends with one of the people that were murdered. The blonde girl also wasn't much of a fan of the person Naruto was shielding. "Sorry." Naruto apologized.
The girl huffed and feigned disinterest. "Whatever." She muttered. It was still the day that Mr Yamada lost his life and already Naruto was making jokes about it. Sometimes she couldn't understand how his mind worked. "You must've suspected Kitsuchi-taichō was protecting Midoriya-san as well, yet you still left him an SOS device." The girl said. Her mood noticeably dampened with every word. "Is she that much of a threat?." She asked.
With Kitsuchi protecting Izuku from the shadows then most people would be hardpressed to harm a single hair on the boy's head. Yet Naruto still left behind a device for the boy to summon him if he was ever in serious danger. This indicated that Naruto didn't have complete faith in the captain from the east. It greatly disturbed the blonde brown eyed girl.
Naruto took down the girl's nervousness. She was right to be concerned. He sucked his teeth in an effort to pull out a stray bit of chips that was trapped between his teeth. "It's better safe than sorry. Kitsuchi-ossan issa topnotch shield and I doubt anybody who wants to get at Izuku would be able to get passed him without paying a hefty price." Naruto said with certainty. "But!. That ol man ain't really the sharpest, or the brightest. In a straight up fight he's a solid meat shield. We can't just assume that Izuku would be straight up attacked. Don't forget, we ain't just talking about an old friend of ours. That girl is a born assassin." Naruto said.
He took a pause as he had recalled a memory he had of the girl assassin. He smiled in fondness. "With a quirk like hers she can slip by Kitsuchi-ossan's notice, drop Izuku and leave without him even knowing a thing."
The blonde girl frowned. She had forgotten to consider that psychopath's quirk. Naruto spoke of her fondly, but to the blonde girl that person had always been bad news. From the day they met she had been a loose cannon with no morals and values whatsoever. She was just a survivor who did whatever she wanted.
'I guess it isn't a surprise they both got along so well.' She thought with a sigh. "With her quirk getting past Kitsuchi-taichō would be a cinch, not to talk of slitting Midoriya-san's throat. He may not even have a chance to use that SOS device."
Naruto hummed in agreement. "Very true. There's no guarantee she'll go after him though, it's just a precaution. Better I leave him something to fall back on in case Kitsuchi-ossan doesn't come through."
The girl shrugged "I guess..." She yawned softly and rubbed her eyes. "I should get to bed."
Naruto pouted "Aw already?."
"It's almost 12am." The girl deadpanned.
"But I ain't sleepy yet!." He complained. Naruto's eyes suddenly twinkled in mischief. He gave the girl a beastly smile and leaned forward. "Why don't I sneak up to your room and give you a reason to stay awake?." Naruto wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
The girl turned red as a tomato. "Goodnight Naruto!." She said and immediately stopped the video call.
Naruto was left still wiggling his eyebrows at his laptop. After a few seconds the blonde threw himself back on his couch with a groan. "Damn it." The blonde cursed.
What a magnificent end to his day that would have been. Much to his misfortune, the girl was far too shy to give him the go ahead. Naruto mentally debated whether or not if he should sneak into her room anyway. In the end they blonde decided it to go for the option that gave less rapey vibes and stayed in his room. Naruto closed his laptop and left it on a table before making his way to his bed.
If he weighed the pros and cons of the day he wasn't sure if he could call it a failure or a victory. He started the day by searching for his assassin friend. In the end all his search could lead him to was a slug fest with Kamui Woods and Mt Lady. After that he got to meet class 1A personally and formally met Izuku. More of a standoff than a meeting but the blonde would take it. He snuck out of school to get so ramen and make an order through Mr Yamada only to find the man's beheaded corpse in his own convenience store. He ran into Izuku for the third time in a day, and in an attempt to use the boy he ended up using him against his cause. He had another run in with Mt Lady, who in Naruto's opinion looked even sexier when she was terrified.
Unfortunately, he didn't have time to converse with the giantess since he was still in search for yet another sexy blonde. Now he thought about it, Naruto was involved with a lot of blonde ladies. Though majority of them... all of them wouldn't put it that way, while a good majority probably hated or wanted nothing to do with him. Still. He was surrounded by blonde babes. That aside, when he concluded that he wouldn't find the assassin today he made a stop at Izuku's house and had a great and enlightening chat with the fifteen year old. Then he was tailed back to the school dorm.
On the pros side, Naruto had a fun fight with two pro heroes, he met an interesting kid, ate some ramen with him and took some pictures of his smart friend's practically naked breasts. On the cons side, Mirko still didn't have an Only Fans account, he couldn't find his assassin friend, he was being monitored and poor Mr Yamada was dead, leaving his wife widowed and daughter fatherless.
"It's more or less a draw." Naruto decided. He relaxed on his bed and closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come quick.
Tuesday
7:45am
Izuku practically strutted to school in the morning. He woke up to the sound of his alarm at 4am and immediately went jogging. He took the path that led to the former dump he trained with Allmight for eight months. He had a single goal in mind.
Successfully and safely use One-For-All.
Naruto's words yesterday had cleared away the fog from Izuku's mind and now he could say he had finally identified the cause of his inability to gauge his own strength. The explanation Naruto gave was far from decent, but it was so simply and directly put that even an idiot could understand it. Izuku was no fool so he had an even easier time finding meaning in Naruto's words.
He was being too forceful with a quirk that had already integrated with his body. It was like he was still trying to command his body to carry out an action that it should naturally be able to without being told. Like consciously trying to breath. Breathing became far more tasking once you consciously commanded your body to do it. While when it did it subconsciously it was effortless. While he searched for what could make it easier for him to control his quirk, he ended up hampering his adaptation with the very thought. That a quirk needed to be controlled and instructed like it was an external force.
With refreshed inspiration and excitement even superior to how he felt when he tried to use One-For-All for the first time, Izuku threw a punch at a wrecked old fridge he found around the corner. This time he didn't try to direct his quirk or suppress it. He activated it and threw a punch like he normally would and with a loud crashing sound the large fridge was sent flying into the air at blistering speed.
There was a sizeable impression on it, the interior caved in from the blunt force of his fist and pieces of it flew through the air in random directions. The fridge didn't stop flying for a whole fifty meters before it dropped down and shattered into many large pieces.
Izuku was entranced by the sight of his own strength and only inspected his hand after the fridge crashed back into the ground. The boy almost burst into tears of elation when he saw that his hand was completely fine. He felt a little tingle and smidgen of pain probably due to energy back flow caused by subconsciously effort to stop himself from doing anything in particular, but it wasn't anything major. With renewed confidence, Izuku threw out another powerful punch this time with his left hand.
He didn't hit anything this time so it wasn't as flashy. His punch created a sizeable shock wave and redirected the wind to a single direction. It wasn't anything near the shock waves or recoil Allmight's punch caused when he defeated the slug villain, but it was still good enough for Izuku.
He never expected to be as strong as Allmight from the very beginning. He understood that it would take time for him to make this power his own, just like he had told Bakugo that day. This was merely a first step towards that goal. It was a small step, but Izuku was deeply grateful for it.
This marked the start of his charge to the top, his road to pro hero and succession of Allmight's will. With this small step he could finally level the playing field with his classmates and wouldn't be left moping behind. He could now fight. He could compete. He was their equal starting today.
Izuku didn't stop there. He continued using his quirk til the very last second he could spare. He wanted to familiarize himself with this feeling as fast as he could, strength his vessel as fast as he could and make up for lost time. He made sure to take out some time to work on his speed. So far he only used his quirk to smash or throw things, he had never used it to boost his movements. But now that he understood that his quirk main function was to enhance his base abilities, Izuku couldn't focus on just strength. At the moment there wasn't much he could do for reaction speed and maneuverability since he was training alone. However, he could work on his movement and attacking speed.
Naruto made a comment about his lack of speed and Izuku had been thinking about it ever since. In a fight if he couldn't move fast enough, no matter how powerful he was he would be at a disadvantage. It was imperative that he improved his speed.
Izuku spent two hours in training. An hour on his strength, then another hour on his speed. When he was done Izuku was totally exhausted but he wore a smile as he dragged himself back home. His body was tired from the overuse of his quirk, but that didn't matter to him. The fatigue was nothing compared to the frustration he had to endure for the past week. Though he was tired Izuku felt like a heavy weight had been taken off his shoulders. His body felt heavy but Izuku had never felt so light in his life.
When he got home he had to endure an earful from his mom about working himself too hard. The woman's words were those of reprimand, however, her face told a different story. She could see the happiness in her son's eyes and knew how much it meant to him that he could now exhaust himself with his own quick. Her scolding was light and quick. When she sent Izuku off she did so with a peaceful and content smile on her face. She had longed for mornings like these.
Izuku got into class with a small smile on his face. He realized that he had gotten comparatively later than normal. Everyone else was already in class. The session of shower singing ended up taking up more of his time than he anticipated. Izuku exchanged greetings with his classmates as he made his way to his desk.
"You're late Midoriya." Ida spoke up from Izuku's side with a disapproving look. "This is unbecoming of you. We may be freshmen but that only means we have to put in more effort to abide to the rules and regulations of UA high." Ida chided. Izuku laughed awkwardly, unsure what to say in response.
"He didn't really break any rules Ida-kun." Tsuyu said. The froggy girl placed a finger just below her lower lip. It was a habit of hers, that could be characterized from the times she was spitting facts. Ida tried to argue back but his response was drowned out by the loud cursing of Bakugo who was getting into it with Kaminari over why the lightning quirk user was comparing his 'shitty quirk to his'.
The argument was short lived in the end. Kaminari lacked the suicidal tendencies to take it any further with Bakugo and let things drop. He did suffer a 'wuss' call from Jiro though. 'Kacchan's quirk and Kaminari's quirk, I wonder...' Izuku cupped his chin in thought and begun to compare the two flashy and powerful quirks.
Bakugo's quirk was easily more destructive, however, Kaminari's quirk one-upped him in utility. There was far more that could be done with Kaminari's quirk compared to Bakugo's that could old destroy. While on the topic of quirks, Izuku recalled something important that he had totally forgotten about to his mind. 'Naruto-senpai's quirk!. I totally forgot to figure out what it was!.' Izuku grabbed his head and gasped in remembrance.
Uraraka saw the weird outburst from Izuku and raise an eyebrow in curiosity and mild concern. She tapped the dazed green haired boy's shoulder. "Are you okay Deku?. Why did you gasp out like that?." She asked.
Izuku realized that he'd had another strange outburst in class. He had the urge to punch himself, however that would only make him appear even more strange. The One-For-All user smiled disarmingly at the browned haired girl and shook his head. "It's nothing I just remembered something I forgot."
"What your balls?." Bakugo suddenly added in. Izuku hadn't even realized he was paying attention to him until he spoke up.
Izuku and Uraraka blushed in unison. "Ka-kacchan don't say stuff like that!."
Bakugo scowled at Izuku. "Where do you get off giving me others you piece of shit?!." he aggressively barked at the green haired boy. Right from day one Izuku pissed him off, but after he found out Izuku would be trying out for UA with him, he pissed him off even more. Now it was confirmed he had spontaneously developed a powerful quirk, Bakugo didn't know the words to use to describe how mad seeing the freckled teen made him. It had transcended the word 'pissed'.
Izuku shivered. The look in Bakugo's eyes wasn't a good one. He knew he had to pick his words carefully or risk having the situation blowing up in his face. Literally. "Uh–"
Luckily for him, Midnight came to his rescue. The entire class hushed into silence as the woman walked... catwalked into the class. Ojiro had to cover Mineta's mouth with his tail to stop him from cat calling the R-rated hero right in class.
To Izuku's and the rest of the class' astonishment, the attractive woman was accompanied by a reluctant looking Naruto. The blonde excluded the jacket from uniform getup and wore his tie loosely. Most notably, there were six large connected rings on each of his arms and legs. The rings were attached to a collar around his neck by four sturdy chains. Naruto's eyes were golden, an indication that he was using his quirk. He walked into the class in embarrassment and with heavy steps. The blonde's eyes landed on Izuku who was staring at him with an incredulous expression. He looked away and glared mildly at the smugly smirking Midnight.
Well, at least that was what it looked to the onlookers. In reality Naruto was ogling her ass without restrain. One of his many talents; looking at something without anyone knowing he was looking. Naturally he wasn't responsible enough to use this talent on anything other than eyeing the assets of attractive women.
"Good morning class!." Midnight said in a joyous tone. Naruto rolled his eyes at the woman... then rolled them back to her rear. "Sorry for being a little tardy. I spent extra time dragging this troublemaker here with me." Midnight said, pointing an accusatory finger at Naruto.
She realized that the blonde wasn't paying much attention to her words, or anything in particular and narrowed her eyes. The woman placed a hand on her hip and slowly walked around the blonde. Naruto stood straighter and stuck his chest out in defiance. Ever the proud troublemaker.
"This person here is a student from a senior class. Class 3A's resident trouble child, Uzumaki Naruto." The woman introduced the blonde. She hadn't a clue that Naruto had introduced himself yesterday and the class already had a good impression of him.
"I ain't a child, sexy legs." Naruto said with a trademark toothy grin.
The entirety of class 1A but Momo and the more emotionally reserved members (Todoroki) gasped in shock.
Momo's reaction was a light facepalm. The black haired girl wasn't as surprised as the rest of her classmates that Naruto addressed a teacher so rudely. If anything she was shocked he didn't speak to the other girls in her class the same way. Probably if Izuku had not had that strange altercation with Naruto then he would have.
Midnight gave the blonde a thin wicked smile and harshly twisted his ears. Naruto screamed like a pig that was about to be slaughtered, causing Momo and Midnight to roll their eyes. One would think he was being brutally tortured. Impressively, Naruto was able to force his eyes to produce tears. He begged for 'the great goddess to grant him a quick death as opposed to this inhumane torture'. The class erupted in laughter at the blonde's ridiculous reaction. Midnight finally released his ears and harrumphed. That wasn't the reaction she was looking to get out of the class. Naruto's screams of pain stopped as soon as Midnight released him. The blonde smiled as though he hadn't just been screaming his lungs out seconds ago.
"Speak properly Naruto, you're setting a bad example for your juniors." Midnight scolded.
Naruto perked up at the woman's words. His eyes sparkled in realization, he turned to the juniors in question with a stern expression. "Don't you dare fucking follow my example yer little bastards!." Naruto loudly 'advised'. The students of class 1A sweatdropped at the blonde's words. Midnight smacked him upside the head in response. The blonde once again gave an exaggerated scream. Seconds after he was snickering to himself.
"Pay no attention to him. He's a bad egg and shouldn't be looked up to or mentored by any circumstances." Midnight said. She smacked the whiskered teen's head again when he tried to argue.
"If I may ask, sensei..." Momo raised her hand. The whole class turned their attention to the girl, Ashido wiggled her eyebrows at Momo with a knowing smile. Momo blushed lightly. She only managed to get over her embarrassment when Midnight nodded at her. "What did Naruto-senpai do?." Momo asked. She turned her eyes to Naruto who was making a conscious effort to avoid eye contact with her.
Midnight eyes darted from Naruto to Momo in curiosity. The woman then smiled in amusement, promising to do something with the information she had just procured. She would have a field day teasing this innocent little girl about this. 'I'll say... she has a good eye for one so young. But are you sure you'll be able to handle this raging pervert little girl?.' Midnight wondered. She wore a smile as she responded to Momo's question. "He skipped classes... to chase some tail."
Naruto had a roguish smile on his face for the first part of the statement. When Midnight completed the sentence the smile dropped from his face. He stared at the woman in shock and horror, then who turned to Momo who was staring daggers at him with helpless eyes. He was being framed!.
'Damn this fucking bitch...' Naruto cursed and glared at the woman. 'Why did she have to put that as my reason?. Now I can't claim innocence without looking like a prick.' Naruto complained. What sane man would claim he wasn't out chasing tail?. Not him. Even though it was a lie he would stand by it. 'It's a painful burden to bare, but I'll bare it!.' Naruto shut his eyes so he wouldn't have to see Momo and gritted his teeth in effort before hollering in agitation. "I DON'T REGRET IT!."
The blonde yelled out the words with a fiendish grin. There was a wild passion in his golden eyes. His hair suddenly appeared shaggy and his appearance rough. Naruto laughed like a man possessed while yelling out 'Ain't no shame in my game' continuously.
For class 1A it was a both a hilarious and disturbing sight. Mostly a disturbing sight. Midnight did her best to silence the whiskered teen, and had to gag him in the end. The woman was already regretting doing her colleague a favor and taking the blonde along with her.
Paying off the money she owed the guy now didn't look as bad as having Naruto with her the whole day. She didn't know how his homeroom teacher/hostle master did it. Naruto was her problem for just a few minutes and she was about to lose her mind. The blonde was beyond exhausting. He never stopped talking, and more often than not then things that flew out of his mouth would get him expelled in a regular school.
He was out of line whenever he spoke to a woman and openly and shamelessly made efforts to get into the pants of anything in a skirt. The eighteen year old had no integrity at all. He was truly a terrible example to every student of UA high, or every human being that came in contact with him. The worst part of it was he couldn't truly be disciplined since he was too thick skinned. Both figuratively and literally.
Naruto was a joker, thus all attempts to correct him would be laughed off. The physical corrective measures had little to no effect as well. Even now the teen was being punished, yet Midnight couldn't tell if it was making a difference.
He adapted way too fast. If you tried to put him in detention, for the male teachers he would annoy til they gave up and for the female teacher he would sexually harass until they tried to kill him.
One time a teacher lost his temper and attacked the blonde seriously. His attack was powerful as one would expect, however did nothing of note to the blonde. Not a single bruise was found on his body. The nature of young Naruto's quirk made it an almost impossible task to damage him. The teen was considered the ultimate meat shield by most of the staff.
As for the teacher who attacked him, he was rightly dismissed. The man left the building in regret, shame and with a ruined hand. From that day onwards it became an established fact that beating the blonde didn't work. Unless it was his homeroom teacher, Allmight or Aizawa doing the beating it wouldn't have any real effect.
After swearing to herself that she would never make the mistake of owing Naruto's homeroom teacher again, Midnight proceeded with the class lessons. She was often interrupted by Naruto's incessant moaning. Many of which sounded inappropriate, at least to her ears. By halfway point of her period Midnight's palms were bleeding from constant clenching. When she heard the bell she practically ran out of the class, sending terrified glances at the gagged blonde.
The members of class 1A stared at the blonde tyrant in a mixture of reverence and horror. Kami he was annoying. They thought they'd seen annoying people in their time, but Naruto gave them a whole different outlook on how annoying a human being could be.
They all cringed at one point or the other from observing the blonde. It was like an absurd talent he possessed. He knew just when to make out those sounds, how to make the dirtiest and most disturbing of sounds, how to tell them what each and every individual sounds meant without speaking. The face he made throughout the entire thing was even more disturbing. Nothing made the skin crawl more than a face that didn't match the emotions of the things that came out of the mouth. Seeing a guy with the appearance of the dead making those creepy sounds was a near traumatic experience.
At one point Sero excused himself to the restroom so he could empty his stomach. Even the antisocial Todoroki's face was scrunched up in honest displeasure having had to endure Naruto for 45mins. The only person who managed to go through the class without any problems was Momo. As soon as Midnight left the class, the girl went straight for the blonde and ungagged him. She knew the longer the stayed like that the longer her classmates would suffer.
To others who didn't understand him, dealing with Naruto was difficult to impossible. For those who did though, it wasn't much of a hassle. You just had to understand that the blonde loved to contradict and oppose everything. It was just his rebellious nature and need to act out. If a person wanted to deal with Naruto then they had to stop worrying about controlling him, and focus on putting him in situations where his good qualities would have the opportunity to shine. If he wanted to talk, give him a something productive to speak about. Try to get him to solve a riddle. If he wanted to be noticed, give him a task to showoff in. If he wanted to act out, give him a fight. As long as you didn't give Naruto the impression that you were trying control or restrain him, he wouldn't act out.
"Thanks Momo-chan." The blonde said with a smile. "If my hands weren't so chained up I'd give you a hug. My lips are fine though, so we c–kuuh!." Naruto only got to complete half of the sentence before Momo struck him in the jaw. The strike caused him to bite his tongue and injured it in the process. Yet another way of handling Naruto. If you wanted to discipline make sure to use him to do most of the work. "Goddammit girl!. I almost bit off my tongue."
Momo crossed her hands across her chest in disinterest and harrumphed at the blonde. "Please leave our class Naruto-senpai, the next teacher will be here soon."
Naruto spat out the excess blood from his mouth and eyed Momo. "Are you kicking me out?."
"Yes." Came the unanimous answer of class 1A. Naruto sweatdropped.
"I'm supposed to be with Midnight for the whole day. Now she's left me here I dunno if it's fine for me to leave or not. What I do know is that my class teacher said I'm not permitted in class for the next three days." Naruto said with a chuckle.
"Then why are you even in school?!." the class asked in unison.
"Because the school can't trust him to stay at home either." Momo supplied.
She understood the blonde's situation better than most. She knew in actuality Naruto was under the care of the school, and it was supposed to be a secret due to the nature of his quirk. At least that was what Naruto had told her. If she knew him at all then he likely escaped whatever resident the school had provided for him to go out and do his own thing. For the tail chasing bit, Momo was not stupid enough to believe Midnight's words. Midnight clearly made that up, however, the girl was not sure whether or not it was untrue.
Perhaps Midnight lied because even she had no idea what Naruto was out doing. Momo wouldn't put it past her childhood friend to do something like that. He had always been a bit of a sexual fiend. The main reason her family didn't feel comfortable having him over or leaving them alone in a single room again.
Naruto grinned as though Momo had complimented him. "They're just tryna make a point. It ain't working though." Naruto said and shuffled lightly. He stuck a bit his tongue of his tongue out of his mouth involuntarily in concentration and struggled to move his arms.
Momo noticed the strange movement and narrowed her eyes at Naruto. "What are you doing?."
"Trying to free my hands."
Momo quickly stopped him from moving any further. "You can not release yourself from the teacher's punishment." She chided.
The blonde frowned at her and still struggle to move, however Momo was smarter and created guards that she wore on his fingers. "Stop it!." Naruto growled in annoyance. "Why are you impeding my escape. I have rights!."
"Not to terrorize the school you don't." Momo said firmly. The girl used her quirk to create another set of restrains and placed them on the resisting blonde.
"You can't do this to me!. This is child abuse!." Naruto yelled out pathetically. The blonde had a look of desperation in his eyes as they darted across the room, looking for a potential saviour.
Unfortunately none was to be found in the class of freshmen. "You're older than her!." They said in unison.
Naruto continued to stubbornly resist, but Momo proved equally as resilient in her task of restraining the whiskered teen. Naruto's rebellious words soon turned to curses and eventually to pleas but Momo turned a deaf ear to all of it. She remained concentrated on her goal. The blonde suddenly went silent and stopped struggling.
Momo felt suspicious at first, but after some time she assumed he had given in. She was sorely mistaken. It was until Momo started tightened the restraints around his waist that Naruto begun to speak again. The blonde took a deep breath and hollered in a loud voice that echoed across the entire school. "SHE'S TOUCHING ME IN WEIRD PLACES!. SEXUAL HARASSMENT! SEXUAL HARASSMENT! SOMEBODY SAVE ME!."
Momo paled and quickly let go of the blonde. However, she was a fraction too late. Aizawa and a group of teachers came barging into the class. Some even broke in through the windows. All the teachers had intense expressions of hatred and anger... and if one looked closer they would pick out the fear.
"You girl!, unhand that boy's genitals!." A teacher class 1A hadn't met before demanded. It was the Blood hero; Vlad King.
He was the homeroom teacher of class 1B, and would normally mind his own business but this time it was different.
The last time words like that were spoken the teachers reactions were too late. It ended up being a huge scandal for UA high. The whole country was baring down their throats for months, and all Japan could talk about was that scandal. Subsequently, UA's reputation was affected and ended up losing half a star from their online rating and we're now drawn on the same level as the top western hero academy.
Aizawa was far less vocal with his reaction and a lot more physical. He didn't give Momo the chance to defend herself and immediately restrained her. Only after he did did he assess the situation. Naruto was the supposed victim, and if he were being honest the man immediately felt doubtful once he realized it.
The blonde to his credit had the most believable expression on his face. He looked horrified, relieved that help came time and shaken up by the 'incident'. There were even tears at the corners of his eyes. He lowered his head in shame, as though he wanted the ground to swallow him. Even for those who knew of his tendencies, this reaction looked completely honest. They could not help but believe him.
The blonde was in tears, apparently in shock, not to mention he was completely restrained giving him little leeway to resist.
Aizawa turned to the dazed Momo in disappointment. 'It's always the normal looking ones...' He thought with a sigh.
Last time the whole school had a hard time believing the person responsible was actually capable of such a thing. The man had not given any prior indication that he was such a person. The school was caught off guard when he struck, and had to suffer the harsh consequences and the aftermath of his actions. "You're coming with me." Aizawa said.
He easily picked up Momo and carried her on his shoulder. The shaggy haired man then turned to the class. A class that he was supposed to responsible for. They all had the look of shock and confusion in their eyes. Clearly they had not expected such a swift response from the school. Aizawa's forehead creased head in disgust. "What kind of sick kids would watch something like this?." He said out loud. He turned away from the freshmen, in even greater disappointment.
When the recipient of this great shame was a different homeroom teacher he joined in with the other staff members in making jokes. He even shared the memes he found on twitter to the UA teachers group chat. It was funny then. Now it was his turn, Aizawa didn't find it as funny anymore.
'Damn it. I should've known Mineta would contaminate his class. Why didn't I expell that little shit?.' Aizawa cursed underneath his breath. "Somebody release him. I'll go question the offender." Aizawa said to the now calm teachers before taking his leave. Most of the teachers followed after him, only three remained to release Naruto and reprimand the 'sick in the head' class 1A.
The incident put school activities on a pause up til break. The staff harshly interrogated every member of class 1A as well as Midnight, who was stated by all to be the teacher that brought Naruto in in chains in the first place. The investigation led them to Naruto's homeroom teacher who was forced to admit that the blonde had gotten the slip on him again and skipped school.
For a majority of the teachers it meant just that, only a handful understood that he meant Naruto escaped from the school's dorm. After a hours of investigation and questioning, the school board were able to confirm without a doubt that nothing in anyway sexual had been done to Uzumaki Naruto.
Yaoyorozu Momo was exonerated.
The girl quickly left for home, understandably shaken up by the reaction of the school and the accusations that were thrown at her.
The teachers felt deeply remorseful, especially Aizawa. He was one of the particularly severe interrogators. He hoped the girl wouldn't drop out because of this ordeal, she had an immense potential that only but a few places could squeeze out.
The school gave it's verdict. Naruto was charged for spreading misleading information and would be severely punished for that as well as skipping school. Naruto's homeroom teacher got suspended for a week and fined for holding back important information and taking disciplinary laws into his hands without prior notice. Midnight received a fine for being an accessory in the crime.
The woman drove out of the school with a self-mocking smile on her face. The situation was depressingly ironic. She got into all this trouble because she didn't want to pay off a monetary debt she owed. In the end she would still have to pay that debt and had only succeeded in accumulating more expenses.
As for Naruto, the school was still considering how exactly they would punish the blonde since his crimes were currently still inconclusive. This was because the blonde had skipped school again and was now missing. Any decision they made now might not be severe enough a punishment for the blonde. Thus they had to wait until the blonde was caught and brought back to the school.
The principal was forced into the awkward situation of recalling Naruto's homeroom teacher and requesting the man helped with the quest to find Naruto. He had to forfeit the fine he had just handed out a few minutes ago leaving the intelligent rodent depressed.
The great debacle of Uzumaki Naruto put school at a premature end for the day. All the students were informed to return back to their homes. It was agreed that school activities would resume normally tomorrow. For today, they had a runaway blonde to catch.
With Momo
Yaoyorozu Momo was a girl of envy and she knew it. She lived a life, had a lifestyle that many people would love for themselves.
Coming up, Momo hadn't realized just how different she was from other people. She was a sheltered child who was mostly at home. She never truly had the opportunity to see life from outside her parents scope. Momo attended a private school so she was more or less surrounded by people of her social class. During those days Momo was a lot more social. She made friends easily, played a lot, got into trouble often and even stood up for those who were weak.
Placed in a cradle of her parents wealth, in a totally separate world from the one ordinary people lived in, Momo mistook herself as one of them. Those were the days she felt the most normal. Even though many people were envious of her quirk, it didn't matter. Quirks were naturally born abilities. They didn't discriminate or belonged to a certain type of people. Wealth, however did.
When Momo was admitted into a public middle school on her own request, she finally saw the light. She wasn't normal. She only deluded herself that she was, among people who were equally as special as her. She found out that her kind were a type that could be born with more than one super power.
The first was naturally a quirk, while the other was wealth. Wealth was like a super power, a person once told her. Like any power it could corrupt. And like any other great power it drew the envy of the crowd.
Nobody liked to be reminded of what they didn't have or couldn't do. That was just how human beings were. The world was not a fair play, and society had dictated to all that there should be a ladder. A ladder that all humans had no choice but to climb. The higher you went the greater the view, the fewer people you saw and the greater the power over those below you. The lower you were the lower your influence, the your capabilities. Refusal to climb this ladder spelt a life of hardship and endless struggles or worse death.
This ladder that society had created did not discriminate, but only favoured the ones at the top. On the other hand it could be used to crush the ones at the bottom.
Money was the unit of measurement for how high up the societal ladder a person climbed. The reward of it. A note used for mere exchange, yet possessed the greatest power of all in the world. Complete domination over human lives. The most essential commodity in the lives of all human beings.
Those who possessed it in large quantities were lords over the masses. They exchanged it for whatever they wanted; luxuries, opportunities, services and authority. Those who didn't were forced to live as slaves to it. The hunt for wealth was an endless cycle.
A rich man was often depicted as superior to other men. With just a wave of his hand he could command man ordinary men, he could get them to do his bidding. He could create a working establishment and hire these men. They would work day and night to make him more money and leave content with a measly fraction of it. Such a crazy thing, yet it was common in modern society.
It was expected that the rich got richer and the poor worked hard to ensure that the cycle continued. A man with wealth would have dominion over men without it. A wealthy man was like a man with a super power. The power that put above the very class of people that made him who he was.
Naturally, he was envied or even hated. The only thing more detestable to the common man than the wealthy man were the ones who were born into wealth. The metaphorical babies with silver spoons in their mouths.
Compared to their fathers and mothers or grandparents these types of people put in even less work to be who they were. They were simply fortunate enough to be born into comfort and luxury. They were simply luckier than most. These sort of people were the most enviable to the ordinary man.
These kind of people were also the most detestable. Unlike their parents before them who may even have had humble beginnings, or at least understood the importance of the common man, these rich kinds were different. They didn't have to bare the burden of sustenance. They didn't understand the the cost of living, or how difficult it was to survive. They didn't know hunger, struggle, lack nor need. They were provided with everything they wanted, whenever they wanted it. Their problems were far different from those of the ordinary men.
The ordinary man had to fight for his survival everyday, prioritised nutrition and was plagued by the pressures of accommodation, clothing and healthcare almost on a daily basis. The wealthy didn't have to focus on any of those things nor bother themselves about it, aside from special cases. All those things came naturally to them without much trouble. These two kinds of people weren't just different, they lived in different worlds.
It was because they lived in different words that it was particularly upsetting when one of them was trying to act like what they were not. An ordinary person. Momo was a victim of this mindset. It didn't matter how good of a person she tried to be. Perhaps they would be appreciative of her for a moment, but in the end they never considered her as one of them. She was never truly a friend. She was never truly accepted.
Some had done their best to accept her, but regardless of how great the day was or the measure of the good deed, all positive emotions were killed off the closing bells rung. When she got into the black limousine that always showed up to pick her up. Just the sight of the expensive car parked just in front of the school.
Unlike the other cars that were parked in corners as the parents waited for their children. Momo's limousine was parked in space. It obstructed the exit of the students but not a single one of the school staff dared to make a fuss. That knowledge was all it took sometimes. Seeing the car was all that was required to drain out all the hard work Momo had put in with the ordinary kids in the day.
Hearing the honk of the horn was like a signal from reality, telling them to wake up. The sight of her chauffeur politely bowing to her ticked them off. They waved back but they likely did not enjoy doing so while she was inside such a luxurious car. They told her 'goodbye' or 'see you tomorrow' but those were the last things on their minds. They smiled at her but she could make out the disdain and envy in their eyes.
Envy. It was the only true constant in the relationship she had tried to foster with her 'friends'.
Eventually, Momo had to accept her difference. Though she still felt like she was walking on eggshells whenever she was in a public place with her security. She always felt guilty whenever she saw people unable to afford what she could easily buy. She was just as well scared to offer to get it for them. In her experience it would be more insulting rather than thoughtful. There was no apology that could be made for having a better life than others.
After finding out about social status Momo's life was in a shambles. She was filled with so much guilt, which turned to into frustration and then anger. An anger that she unfairly directed at her parents. Everytime she saw them she felt wrong.
The name and reputation that she had been so proud of had suddenly become like a huge burden, like a disease that kept away any potential friends. The silver spoon they put in her mouth at birth became her sin. She felt wrong. Momo had no say in how she was conceived and who her parents should be, but in the end she had to pay the price of having the Yaoyorozus as her parents.
That was the darkest period of Momo's life. She was a shell of her former self. Distant, quick tempered, depressed and silent. She was a mess.
It was that way until her father brought in a blonde haired boy and said he was going to stay with them for an indefinite amount of time. Momo could still vividly remember the first time she met the him. Her father introduced him as Uzumaki Naruto, he said he was two years older than her, and it showed in his appearance. He was over a head taller than her. Momo could recall the smile he gave her when they met like it was yesterday. Those cute whisker marks on his cheeks. His big blue eyes that entranced her from the moment they made eye contact. She was in a daze from the second they met, yet he didn't give her any time to recover. He just had to go further and burst her world wide open. She could never forget the first words Naruto said to her.
"Wow you're cute... let's be friends!."
His first words were enough to establish the huge crush she was on the brink of having on him. His last words were lack a hammer that smashed all through Momo's defenses. Through her guilt, her shame, her anger, her insecurities and her fears. He charged right through her storm of emotions and put a feeling that Momo hadn't felt since she entered middle school. Joy.
After then Momo's memory was foggy. She couldn't remember what she said or what happened after then, she was far too overwhelmed to keep track of what Naruto had said either. The rest of her memories were a blur. Momo, however did know that she ended that day laughing together with the blonde.
From that day onwards Naruto became Momo's single and best friend in the world. One of the most important people in her lives. It only took Naruto a few days to mend the stained relationship of the Yaoyorozu family, and they were back to those happy days Momo had forgotten how much she enjoyed. Naruto was like a ray of sunshine on dark day, and Momo could not help but depend on him.
She depended on him for almost everything. Without realizing it Momo had tossed all her burdens on the blonde, and he carried them without a single complaint. To Momo Naruto was a gigantic mountain that she could lean on for support whenever she needed it. Even after he had to leave he never let her feel alone. He still made time for her and was still her mountain.
Uzumaki Naruto was indispensable to Momo.
That was why all the worries and fears of the staff of UA high were wasted on her. She spent years physically away from the blonde, but now she could finally see him on a daily basis on every weekday. Momo would be crazy to drop out of UA high and separate herself from Naruto again. The last thing on her mind was leaving. The teachers misunderstood, when she rushed out of school it was due to embarrassment.
Momo had spent two years living together with Naruto, if somebody understood the whiskered teen's personality then it was her. Though she had not foreseen his actions, she was not surprised by them either. It was such a Naruto thing to do. While she wasn't surprised, she was very upset at the blonde though. She had warned him since the last time that she hated being manipulated by him to achieve his aims. When she saw him she would give him an earful.
Today Momo would return home without the help of a limousine. If it were a couple years ago Momo would feel self-conscious walking in these streets with so many ordinary people around her. Her heart would clench in guilt. Since she met Naruto things had changed. He taught her not to blame herself for the things she was born into and to strive to make a change if she was that much disturbed by it.
Now, Momo felt a lot more comfortable in her own skin. She had no problem walking in the streets and could relish in hustle and bustle of the busy streets. She did not require anybody's permission to feel like a normal girl. Momo smiled to herself. She enjoyed moments like these; moments that reminded her of Naruto's words, that always ended up proving him right.
It was moments like these that taught her how outstandingly good of a teacher Uzumaki Naruto was. Momo immediately ducked to the side of a fruit stand, narrowly avoiding a sniper bullet that had been fired at her.
Bang!
The bullet lodged itself into the chest of the fruit stand owner, drilling through bone and tearing through flesh. The bullet roughly burst out of the stunned man's back before shattering the glass door of the store behind the fruit stand.
Then came chaos.
The sound of gunfire was a sure fire way to bring a crowd of people into a state of panic. Shrill screams permeated the streets, shopping bags, goods and objects of different kinds were tossed into the air. The heavy sounds of footsteps, the terrified screams and frenzied movements soon drowned out everything else. Chaos consumed all in its wake. A stampede broke out.
People pushed and shoved at each other in a frenzy, rushing to escape from the streets into safety. Some of the smarter individuals ducked into stores and hid behind stalls, while the fear stricken ones raced through the streets at neck break speed. The loud blares of horns and the revving sound of car and motorcycle engines mixed into a chaotic brew with the voices of hundreds of panicked people.
The roads were soon turned into a mess by the dozens of running people dashing through it. A driver crashed into some stalls in an attempt to escape, injuring multiple people. The driver in question remained seated in the wrecked automobile, with his head leaning against the steering wheel. Drivers, men and women alike eventually abandoned their cars and took to their heels. It was near impossible for even the most experienced of drives to navigate through such madness.
Some security offers from malls and supermarkets showed valiant spirits and ushered people into their workplaces for safety in the midst of mayhem.
Momo was given the unfortunate privilege of seeing just how it had all happened in slow motion. Momo immediately ducked down for cover when she heard the fizzing sound of something speeding through the air. She would say that she was lucky, but she knew it was the training sessions she had with Naruto that had saved her life.
After the sound of gunfire, everything entered slow motion from Momo's point of view. She saw the bullet penetrate the chest of the fruit vendor and barrel through his back. Blood splattered on the glass door behind him before the bullet smashed it into a million pieces.
The man still had an apple and a knife in his hand and a smile on his face when it happened. His smiling face turned into one of shock when the penetrated his chest. Momo could tell from his expression that at that moment that the fruit vendor knew he was going to die. He knew it, and was confused at how and why it suddenly happened like that. He never thought today would be his last day on earth. He wasn't given the chance to contemplate his death or say a single word. In an instant he was dead.
His body made a loud thud as it crashed into the ground, dead. Blood oozed out of his wounded chest and stained his white T-shirt.
Momo didn't have the luxury of time to say a small prayer or even feel bad for the fruit vendor. Soon after avoiding the sniper bullet she was on the move again. Momo took off her shirt and tossed it aside in one move. One breath after, she created a large piece of cloth big enough to cover her body from her exposed back. She immediately laid on her stomach and allowed the large piece of cloth to cover her entire body.
Due to her actions, Momo lost her vision to the piece of cloth but didn't pay heed to it, instead she set about creating something else. Just under Momo's belly a skateboard was formed. With her preparations complete, Momo pushed herself forward with a hand rolling through the pedestrian path at a steady speed.
The piece of cloth Momo threw around herself was actually a sheet of metal. A superior version of lightest bulletproof metal Momo knew of; kevlar. The sheet of metal was also coated with calcite. A mineral that could bend light across itself and make things 'disappear'.
Normally, it would take Momo longer to make a hybrid element as well as something so specific, but for this particular combination it was different. Momo had put together these two elements more times than she could remember. She had once formed multiple set of clothes using the combination, all under the orders of Naruto. The blonde had called it a game when he first started making demands for her to familiarize herself with certain kind of elemental combinations. After over a dozen 'games' Momo realised that the blonde blonde's intentions weren't so simply, but did as he requested regardless.
After a few months Momo had succeeded in putting together multiple of element combinations, some thought impossible to achieve. One of the top on the alchemy list Naruto made for her was the 'kevlarite sheet' also known as the invisibility cloak. After succeeding in finding the perfect ratio for an efficient 'kevlarite sheet',
Naruto forced Momo to mass produce 'kevlarite sheets' until she dropped. When she woke up she picked up right from where she started. He did this until Momo was able to create the 'kevlarite sheets' in whatever shape or form she required in as little as two seconds.
Momo complained whenever Naruto called her to play their 'game'. At that time she didn't understand why the blonde was so hell bent on making her learn all those alchemy combinations. Now, however, Momo was grateful that she learned. Armed with the reinforced 'kevlarite sheet' and a high quality skate board, Momo rolled through the streets. While making the 'kevlarite sheet' Momo made sure to leave a space for her eyes so she could navigate through the crowd of people. With this Momo was confident she could make a clean escape.
Yes. She was the one that had to escape. She waited for a little more time before she could confirm her suspicions in her mind. She confirmed it from the odd silence. The streets was in an uproar, there were loud noises resounding from everywhere. Noises of all kinds, ranging from screams, car horns, thunderous footsteps, sounds of glass breaking and metal smashing into metal. All kinds of noises except...
The noise of gunfire. That was a silence that sent a chill down Momo's spine.
She was the one that was being targeted!. She suspected it from the moment she dodged that bullet, still Momo did what Naruto had instructed her to do during shootouts. Don't assume you are the target. Confirm it. Assuming one was the target during a shootout could easily get a person killed. Moving targets drew attention and bullets. Directly rushing to escape could earn a person an undeserved bullet. Naruto advised Momo to first take cover as soon as she heard gunfire, then make her preparations.
If the firing continued in a different direction than her, then she could assume that she wasn't the target and make a calm escape. If the firing continued at her direction then it could either mean she was the target, or a person in her general direction was. Naruto advised her to tread with caution if that was the case. Finally, if the gunfire stopped after she took cover and showed no signs of continuing while she made her preparations, then without a doubt she was the target. Naruto's exact words for this possibility were as follows;
"If you ain't hearin' gunshots after thirty whole seconds then haul ass with the 'kevlarite' armour. Run or wheel as fast as you can. Take these words very serious Momo, cuz if you don't, the next time you'll hear gunfire... it's gonna be a few feet away from ya."
Bang!.
Momo grunted as a sharp feeling pierced into her side. The girl clutched her sore waist and gritted her teeth in pain. 'I wasted too much time!.' Momo lamented.
Just as Naruto had warned... The sound of the next shot was dangerously close to her. It took Momo near thirty over extra seconds to gather herself and create the skateboard under her belly. Thirty over seconds longer than the designated time limit to run that Naruto gave her. Luckily the 'kevlarite sheet' blocked the bullet, so she didn't sustain any serious injury. While it stopped penetration, it wasn't able to cushion away the bullet and Momo was left with the stinging feeling of a hot blunt metal slamming into her flesh.
Bang!
Momo quickly swerved to one side, narrowly evading another close range shot that was aimed at her back. She couldn't afford to take hits to her back. If she did then she would lose control of the skateboard and if that happened then this high speed chase would come to an abrupt and unfortunate end.
Bang!
Bang!
Momo made another sharp bend and avoided yet another bullet. She had managed to dodge four more shots by the skin of her teeth. It could be said that she had been extremely lucky to have done so. Though the 'kelvarite sheet' protecting her it greatly diminished her vision. Momo's sight was restricted to a tunnel vision through through the space she had created in the armoured sheet. It only aided her to avoid the scampering pedestrians in the streets, and that with great effort.
She had to rely solely on her ears to determine the trajectory of the bullets and her experience to dodge them. This meant that Momo could only afford to attempt a dodge when the bullets were already dangerously close to her.
Momo's face was covered with perspiration, her jaws clenched tightly and her complexion was pale from fright. No matter what she had no experience in a life or death situation. The training sessions with Naruto were the main reason why Momo was still alive, however those were mere exercises with theoretical scenarios. There was nowhere near this much pressure, this much tension. Nowhere near this much terror.
Sweat rolled down Momo's face. She had been avoiding the killers for barely five minutes but it felt like it had been five hours. Killers. Momo could say for sure that there were more than one shooters. The first would be a sniper that was likely in a nice vintage position. Perhaps a tall building or rooftop. There was at least one and possibly more gunmen giving chase on foot. Momo couldn't tell their exact number, but she was convinced that there were more than one.
Momo deduced that at least one of the gun men had a quirk that could see her somehow. That was the only way she could explain how they could still give chase after the sniper missed her. With her 'kevlarite sheet' on it was highly unlikely that they could track her movement without the aid of a quirk. If she could put whichever one that had that quirk out of commission then escaping them would be easily achieved. The problem laid in fact that Momo had no clue how many gunmen were after her life, not to talk of which one was tracking her. It was taking all of Momo's concentration and them some to avoid the shots, she was not in any position to make a counterattack.
Bang!
While Momo was considering her precarious position, her chasers decided to make things even more difficult for her. The sound of gunfire resound for the fifth time, but this time it wasn't aimed at Momo. She was left confused, wondering and hoping that the gunmen had run into some trouble of their own. Any positive explanation that could explain the sudden dropped of accuracy.
However... reality offered no such reward, rather a harsh reminder of how despicable people who willing took money to kill others could be.
The sound of a woman's scream resounded. Momo watched on with eyes widened in horror as a bullet went through her stomach. The woman lost her footing and tumbled down on the concrete. She rolled about three times in the ground before crashing head first into a wall. The woman violently coughed a mouthful of blood on wall, staining it along with her pale face. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slowly took her final breathes. Just like that, one of the pedestrians running for their lives was gunned down.
...It was just the beginning!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
A man just ahead of skateboarding Momo took an unexpected bullet to the back of his knee. The man wailed in agony and anguish as he fell forward. He flayed his hands in a desperate attempt to stop himself from falling, and managed to grab the shoulder of another man. Alas, before the man could regain any form of balance a heavyset man ran into him, knocking him down on his back in the process.
The man with the leg wound tried to get to his feet but was knocked down again by another fleeing pedestrian. Soon the feet of the many dashing people came crashing down on the wounded man's body. His blood curdling screams rung out hopelessly, his yells of 'help' and 'stop' were drowned out by the chaos. Dozens of different kinds of shoes stomped the poor man into the ground. Blood splashed out of his broken and battered body with her heel step, and a disgusting sound of bones breaking with every boot. Eventually a heavy steel toed boot worn by a large man with a blue mohawk hammered down on his face. His nose was crumpled like a piece of paper, bubbles of blood erupted from his nostrils before his skull caved in.
The second bullet lodged into the forehead of man who was oddly facing in the opposite direction of the mob. The man was dressed in a white and blue security guard uniform. He was amongst the few valiant security guards that took it upon themselves to lead people to safety. He was in the process of ushering a group of children into a bakery when the bullet found him. The hat on his head was sent flying away, the man hadn't an idea what was happening before he died.
The standing corpse wobbled a few times before falling forward, but was then knocked back the incoming crowd. The group of children he was leading watched on in horror as the security guard's body was sent crashing into a streetlight. His bent in a U shape at the root of the streetlight but only momentarily. The ruthless heels of the mob pounded and smashed against his unprotected body. The the top and lower parts of the security guard's body were reduced to meat paste in the matter of seconds.
A person slipped on the blood of the security guard and almost lost his footing. The individual only managed to right himself by gaining a foothold on the face of the security guard.
Crunch
The sound of bone breaking was heard as the man used the security guard's face to propel himself further up the road, snapping his jaw in the process.
The third bullet missed the multitude of people and instead was fired into the sole leg of a stone humming bird statue by the side of the road.
Momo always saw this statue on her way to school. She enjoyed staring at the funny looking bird with tiny legs. The statue was created by one of the most well-known artists in the state, a born and bred member of the city. He was known for making gravity defying pieces that left the public wondering just how the artworks could maintain a solid position despite appearing as though they could topple over at any second. It took a ridiculous level of talent to be able to do something of that caliber. The one-legged leaning forward hummingbird statue was one of the artists greatest work til date.
Today the bloodstained gravity defying statue toppled over and came crashing down on the heads of five persons. They didn't even have a chance to struggle. They were crushed to mince meat.
"No!." Momo screamed, but it was already too late. Her eyes reddened in anguish. The shooters had unexpectedly turned their attention on the crowd of people. Momo felt her heart clench in immeasurable guilt. Those people died because of her. While it was true Momo had no desire to be hunted down, she felt even worse for implicating other people. Momo's eyes stung and two streaks of hot tears rolled down her reddened cheeks. 'Those... inhumane... low life sons of whores!.' Momo cursed in her mind.
Momo didn't have to ask herself. She already knew the reason the gunmen turned on the innocent people. 'They must be all out of confidence for them to do something so ruthless... those bastards.' Momo growled in her mind.
They only targeted those people to draw her out. They were taking advantage of her good nature. As a student of UA, it went without saying that a majority would possess a noble heart and would not be willing to let others die in their stead. The gunmen were banking their hopes on Momo being one of these kinds of people so they could manipulate her into showing and isolating herself. This was an indication that the gunmen were getting desperate. A sign that if Momo didn't look back and stayed on the move, she would soon be free of the restless chase of the gunmen.
Suffice she could be heartless enough, Momo could make an escape. However... She was just not the type of girl.
Without a fraction of hesitation, Momo tossed away the 'kelvarite sheet' and stood atop the moving skateboard. Momo felt a sting in her eyes from the sunlight. Her eyesight had been impaired for a good interval, thus stepping back into the light had a natural effect on her. Momo ignored the discomfort and squinted her eyes in focus, looking about for the gunmen. Almost immediately her actions bore fruit,
Momo caught sight of two individuals dressed in casual clothes with face masks covering their faces zipping through the sky with strange equipments hooked around their waist. It was hard to tell whether or not they were male or female from their figures. On normal circumstances such a sight would standout, however they could barely manage to blend into the commotion.
The two zipped through the air, seemingly in a rush like the rest of the crowd. They would appear to be on the run with the aid of a quirk, not at all like the shooters. Unless a person knew exactly what they were looking for, they could skip passed these two individuals. For Momo, it was mainly due to her experience in creating equipments of all kinds that she could recognize the hidden barrel in the device they used to zip across buildings with.
The two were professionals. Killing in plain sight while still managing to impersonate their victims.
It was disgusting. They were disgusting. That was why Momo had made the reckless decision of exposing herself and went against all the teachings of her best friend. Because Momo could not stomach the thought of these animals getting away, she couldn't let such a thing happen. They indiscriminately shot at a crowd of people with the hope of playing on her nobleness and getting her to expose herself. With the hope and not with the aim.
They were taking a gamble. These gunmen had no assurance whatsoever that Momo would even take a pause to mourn the people they killed. It was a mere throw of the dice, a chance with hope that Momo would do what they wanted. Such ruthlessness and lack of humanity was akin to animals. No. These people were worse than animals. They were lower than scum.
Scum that preyed on and used the weak however they wanted. The worst of the worst. Momo's eyes narrowed in determination. She would never let such scums get away with it.
"Haaaaaaahhhh!." with a battle cry Momo made a sharp turn to an alley. She didn't turn to look back, she was sure the two individuals were still in hot pursuit. Momo was isolating herself just as they wanted. If she delayed further then they would likely kill more people.
She heard the sound of a man's laughter as he skated into the alley. Momo got off the skateboard and turned to the two gunmen. They each hooked themselves on opposite buildings, standing horizontally on the walls.
Momo eyed the gunmen's equipment. She had never seen anything like it. It had a ridiculous appearance, however it had enough efficiency to keep up with her high speed skateboard. All those sharp and misleading bends she made, they must have had to rely on these equipments to stay on her tail. It appeared simple, even rudimentary, yet it was so capable.
Momo deduced that it would require a high degree of training to even harness the equipment, not to talk of using it to this degree. The men were highly trained without a single doubt.
"Hahahaha..." The voice from early broke into laughter again. The sound came from the taller of the two individuals. "To actually take a turn to an alley, what a softhearted dumb lil bitch." The man placed one of his hands on his head in an effort to facepalm and arched his waist to a side. "What is wrong with your head girlie~?."
Momo eyed the speaker and felt an intense surge of irritation in the pit of her stomach, as though she was about to throw up. The man had the voice that one would associate with a lecher. He drew out his words unnecessarily and equally made unnecessary and exaggerated gestures. He was a man for the show, an eccentric.
Momo had never been a fan of eccentrics. She didn't have an actual reason, she just knew that she did not find them at all pleasing to the eyes. Even in class she could not help but be weirded out by Aoyama, and understood that it would take a fair amount of time to get used to the glitter obsessed teen.
This man on the other hand, Momo was sure she would never get used to. Knowing that the man who was goofing off now was the very same person who had murdered at least two innocent strangers just a few minutes ago made Momo's blood boil in anger.
"We're not paid to question the actions of our targets. The pro heroes will be here at any moment, let's finish this." The shorter individual said. He was revealed to be male through his speech. His voice was a lot more flat and even monotone in comparison to his partner.
Momo turned to the shorter of the duo. Though in her opinion this one's personality was lot more bearable, it was far from sufficient to calm the storm of hatred brewing in Momo's heart. The men weren't even making any attempts to pretend, the genuinely had no regard for those they killed and sought to kill.
They treated her like she was air though they planned to take her life from the onset. Such actions went beyond disrespectful to the borderlines of sick. To not even give your soon to me victim any attention, as though they were a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. As though they couldn't put up a fight.
Momo balled her fist and glared at the duo intensely. She had never been so angry in her life.
"Right." The taller gunman nodded. He turned the glaring teary eyed Momo and coldly pointed the hidden barrel under zipline device at her. "I dunno how you thought this was gonna end but... You ran well ojou-san!." the man said with a wicked grin before pulling the trigger.
Bang!
A bullet was fired straight at Momo's head. As if to confirm Momo's mental accusations of them being less than humans and ruthless to the extent of treating their target like cattle waiting to be slaughtered, the man took a shot at Momo without looking her in the eyes once. The black haired girl's eyes widened in a mixture of, terror, helplessness, anger and unwillingness before the bullet hit her.
A direct headshot.
Momo's body slumped down to the ground like a puppets without its strings. She landed into a seated position with her back against the wall. Her head bobbed uncontrollably before lowering forward, blood slowly dripped from the newly formed wound on her head.
"Welp, that's that." The taller man said and dusted his hands jokingly.
His partner didn't respond to the humorous act and instead placed a finger on the receiver in his ear. "Target confirmed killed. Violet and Maroon are returning now, over." The shorter individual reported back in a monotonous voice.
The taller gunman groaned in annoyance. Why did he have to be stuck with this weirdo?. He would rather be in the rendezvous point with the rest of the team playing cards. The mission would have been a lot more enjoyable if he was with a female colleague, or at least someone he could tease.
'Not this emotionally dead bastard.' he complained to himself. "You know you can just talk normally right?. Boss is–"
Bang!
His words were interrupted by the familiar sound of gunfire. This time however, it wasn't the sound of their own guns going off. The shorter gunman turned to his partner with a horror stricken expression. Half of his stomach had been completely blown out by what appeared to be shells from a shotgun.
Blood splattered across the wall, his legs wobbled uncontrollably and he soon lost balance. Like many of his victims, he wasn't permitted a chance to moan out in pain before the light faded from his widened eyes. In an instant he was dead, his body left to dangle on the metallic string of his equipment.
"Maroon!." The shorter gunman (Violet) screamed in despair. He was thought emotionally dead by his now dead colleague, but that did not appear to be accurate.
The gunman turned to the direction of the gunfire and found the presumed dead Momo, not was she still breathing, she had a hand with a shotgun barrel forming out of it pointed at him. A cold and merciless expression on her face.
Bang!
Violet immediately unhooked himself from the wall and let gravity take him out of the course of the shot. The shells blasted a sizeable hole in the wall, much like it had done to Maroon. 'What the hell is happening?!.' Violet screamed to himself, his confused mind struggling to make heads of the situation.
As he dropped to the ground he caught sight of Maroon's hanging corpse and almost choked on his breath. His face turned as white as a sheet of paper, his heart was pounding like it was being beaten with a hammer and his throat went dry. He was still in shock. He couldn't understand what was happening right now. His partner was dead. Killed by the girl that he had just declared dead. A girl that Maroon shot right in the head.
It was precisely because it was a headshot that he hadn't gone to the body to confirm it himself. An enormous mistake, a mistake that had turned to a deadly one for Maroon.
According to the girl's file, her quirk wasn't the kind that could amplify her physical stats by any means. She could only create things to aid herself with. The efficiency of her ability was limited to the calories her body could spare as well as her understanding of the material or device she sought to create. It was a god-like ability, but in the hands of a novice who hadn't taken it to its absolute peak it was like mere parlour tricks compared to what Violet and Maroon had faced.
With such a quirk, Violet and Maroon thought they knew what to expect from the girl. However, Yaoyorozu Momo ended up proving them wrong on every turn. Not only did she react to the sniper, contrary to their expectations she continued to react to shots from them right after that.
After hiding herself, she had created a strange sheet that could not only make her disappear but could block bullets as well. If not for Maroon's ability to detect heat like a reptile, they would have lost the girl a long time ago. Despite keeping track of her, they still had a difficult time hitting the girl after that one blocked shot. If they hadn't gone along with the boss' idea to use the civilians against her then Violet feared the girl would've kept them on the string until the pro heroes swooped in for the rescue.
Fortunately, or in this situation, rather unfortunately they successfully forced her into a corner. Violet had decided after the girl's freakish reaction that she was far from the average UA student, however he never expected her to be able to survive a headshot. Her quirk couldn't amplify durability or regenerate, yet somehow it enabled her to take a bullet to the head.
'How?.' Violet continually asked himself.
The answer to his question soon revealed itself and Violet's eyes widened as he caught sight of the bullet that he thought had penetrated Momo's skull fall from her face, revealing a black piece of cloth wrapped around Momo's head. The cloth had a small hole just where the bullet had fallen from, a thin streak of blood dribbled down the black headband and the rest of Momo's forehead.
Violet finally understood how it happened. She made a gamble, just like them. They were too careless to believe that the girl foolishly revealed herself without taking any countermeasures.
While Momo had a noble heart and a heroic spirit, she also had a good head on her shoulders. She wasn't impulsive and would first think things through before acting. Most importantly, she followed the instructions of those that she trusted to the letter. Wrapped around her head was a damaged sheet of 'kevlarite' she had created around her head before exposing her location. Momo knew that the gunmen were getting desperate when they begun to target the innocent, thus they were likely short on time. She knew if she didn't reveal herself then more would die, however if she carelessly did as they wanted she would only ended up dying a pointless death. It wouldn't bring any of those people they had killed back to life, instead it would add her to the least.
Momo decided to rely on one of the last hitch contingency plans Naruto had devised for her. An invisible headguard, though Momo was forced to improvise and make a few changes to the blondes design due to the shortage of time. The girl settled for a simple 'kevlarite' headband. The headband was an inferior quality compared to the 'kevlarite sheet' she created before, so as to make tying it around her head possible.
Though it left her bloodied, it still managed to stop the bullet, absorbed most of the blunt force and saved her life. After taking a shot to the head, Momo was left with a mild flesh wound and a concussion. She only barely succeeded to keep herself awake and then forced her mind to stabilize and concentrated enough to partly form a double barrel shotgun. A testament to her resilience, Momo in her groggy state somehow managed to point the half created gun at her attempted murderer and on pure instinct pulled the trigger.
Her brain was still muddled and her sight foggy as she turned the gun to the other gunman and fired without a single thought. Unfortunately for Momo, this gunman's guard wasn't down, thus he easily avoided the the shot.
Violet landed on the ground with a flip and immediately dashed at Momo. He made some sense of the situation and that was all that he needed. He regained his cool and calmly reported into his reciever. "Target is still alive. I repeat, target is still alive. Maroon is down. Violet is closing in for the kill, over."
He didn't bother questioning how the blunt trauma didn't knock her out or how she could shoot a half created gun at Maroon. None of that mattered. What mattered was the target. She was still breathing so he had to fix that. He had to fix it.
He watched the girl groggily try to point the barrel him but only half succeeding before her hands gave out. The toll of taking a headshot and forcing the body into action with taking a second to recover was finally getting to her. Violet pulled out a knife and lunged at the girl rather than shoot her. Maroon's death had taught him not to underestimate this girl. Shooting her had proven far less effective with each attempt. He would be a fool to continue along those lines of actions.
Momo's hands slumped down, she remained seated and could only helplessly struggle to maintain her consciousness as Violet's knife closed in on her neck. Just before it could be penetrated a loud crash and the sound of bones breaking resounded in Momo's ears. Violet's knife dropped from his hand and into her lap. Momo vainly struggled to look up, she only managed to make out a figure standing over the corpse of her attacker before everything went black.
When Momo woke up she found herself lying in her bedroom. She could tell from the lack of stickiness on her body that someone had washed her. She glanced down at her body and saw that she was as well dressed in her nightgown.
Momo glanced at the ceiling, wondering if it was all a bad dream. Naruto's embarrassing lie, the teachers accusation, the murders of all those innocent people and her brush with death. Momo placed her hand on her forehead and winched in pain. 'It wasn't a dream.' Though it had been bandaged, the wound from the headshot was still there.
(Insert soundtrack: Scherzo In F Minor Piano and Bass by Nicholas Britell)
[00:00-00:56]
Momo eyes darkened. She felt as though a very important part of her had suddenly been robbed away. Without realizing it her eyes were already streaming with tears. The girl grabbed the fabrics of her blanket tightly and trembled. She was about to shut her eyes and cry herself to sleep like she normally did on nights like these. Nights that she felt completely helpless, confused as to what to do and alone. She wanted to let the darkness take her once more, hopefully to a merry land where she could pretend it had all not happened
She would have shut her eyes if they were greeted with the sight of anything but the face of a peacefully sleeping whiskered cheeked blonde. While in another person's room, lying on her bed without permission he still managed to get comfortable enough to sleep like a log. Saliva dribbled out of his mouth, forming a small poodle on the sheets. He slept without a care in the world. Momo stared mesmerized at his siren sleeping face for minutes.
Without realizing the feeling in her heart had disappeared. Without realizing she didn't have any desire to escape into a dream world anymore. Without realizing it she had edged closer to the blonde and wrapped her arms around him.
Without realizing it they spent a silent night in each others arms.
End
